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"Be who you are and say what you feel because those that mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Step out the waiting room

Go to http://www.jaderytz.blogspot.com instead. I might be there ... or not.

It's my second day of work here at Astro. The place is huge. You see all sorts of people here. Very much different environment compared to my last job.

good news: the staff here are really friendly AND there's a bus from and to Subang Jaya. So I might be aborting the plan to move to Bukit Jalil. What to do, I've grown to love SS15 and the way of life there.

bad news: we can't use yahoo messenger here (not even the web version). but we do get to use msn messenger. So do add me if you haven't already (jasondjs@hotmail.com)

well that's me for now. There's so much more I want to say, but I really don't know where to begin. 2005 really is a year of changes for me, in so many ways.

oh, another change; i've moved to blogspot. tabulas was just getting too troublesome. you know what they say, " if you can't beat em.."
so yea, i'm at http://www.jaderytz.blogspot.com\
doubt i'll be updating much for days to come.

In the meantime, why don't you go out and smell some flowers.

In my first post of 2005;
I won't tell you how 2004 has been for me (ask me in person, and i'll tell you).
I won't tell you what my new year resolutions are (there are quite a few).
Instead, I want you to be honest with me.

I believe with each passing year, I should only get better. And though I'd like to think I know myself pretty well, I also believe a person can have faults and strengths and be completely oblivious to it. There are many reasons. So I need people (especially close friends who are exposed to my radiation at long periods of time) to let me know; "jason, your digging nose in public habit really grosses me out"and "your jokes are just so lame I feel like crying for you" - those kinda thing.

Yes,this is my attempt to evaluate myself, and hopefully be a better person. I take this constructive criticism thingie quite seriously. And yes I know I'm opening myself to public humiliation here, but I feel this is what I need to do.

So please leave a comment (/email/sms), be anonymous if you like, as long as you be honest. Good and (especially) bad, I wanna hear it. Thank you.

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme

And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind

- U2's "Walk on", got me thinking of the things I want to leave behind in 2004.

Not changing the channel:
As all of you should know, there are many ways you can contribute to the the Tsunami victims.
Here are 2 ways that works for me;
- Star/Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund
- DiGiCares SMS

Still Stinged
If you can't buy me tickets, go win me one! I promise to bring you along (with the other tic you won.)
Watching Channel [V] makes me......
(complete the slogan is less than 15 words)

A natural disaster has changed the world.


Photos source.

My question is this; how do we respond? As an individual human being, what can we do? what SHOULD we do? Are we a generation so bent on having fun, so distracted with the things we want to see, we neglect the needs of others? I feel it's so easy how we just change the channel. we go; "oh, that's horrible" while watching the news, then 5 minutes after the news, we watch Sex in the City and we go; "haha, that's funny."

Think about the people in Indonesia,Sri Lanka,India and Thailand who were most affected by the disaster. Looking away is not an option for them. It's in their faces. Their pain is very real. Here's what's happening in various parts of the world as you're watching your mtv and enjoying your Mocha Frappuccino grande.

In Indonesia: thousands of Indonesian troops have been drafted in to help clear the bodies which litter the streets. Bulldozers are being used to bury them in mass graves. In the space of 20 minutes she counted 10 lorries filled with bodies arriving at one grave. A UN official estimates that the final death toll in Indonesia could be between 50,000 and 80,000. bbc news.

... these numbers are fathers, mothers, childrens, friends.

In Sri Lanka: "Two days after the tragedy, there is no more time left to identify the bodies - most of them have begun to rot. It's
a horrible sight to see bodies strewn along the coast, caught in trees and shrubs. The air is drenched with the stink and filled with the wails of the survivors." - Vijay, Madras, India. Confirmed death toll in Sri Lanka: 22,493. bbc news.

... these numbers are fathers, mothers, childrens, friends.

In Thailand: In Khao Lak on Phuket, hundreds of bodies line the beaches - mostly foreign tourists. There are particular problems of identifying tourists who often drowned dressed only in a bathing suit. The Thai government has appealed to the international community to provide forensic scientists to help identify the victims. Many children were separated from their parents when the wave struck. Phuket hospital has been posting pictures of some of them on the internet in an attempt to find their families. According to a doctor on Phuket, the number of injured survivors being brought for care is falling while the number of relatives hunting for loved ones is now growing. bbc news.

... these numbers are fathers, mothers, childrens, friends.

CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL
(as of 29 December, 2004 fr bbc news. )
Indonesia: 45,268
Sri Lanka: 22,493
India: 6,974
Thailand: 1,829
Somalia: 100
Burma: 90
Maldives: 67
Malaysia: 65
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 3
Bangladesh: 2
Kenya: 1

... these numbers are fathers, mothers, childrens, friends ... and the numbers are growing.

As I'm reading the reports online, i can't help crying. it took me awhile to actually wake up and realise; those aren't just numbers. those are people's lives, taken away, in a moment and lost forever. My question, once again is this; how do we as Malaysians respond?Sure, this doesnt affect us as much, we have that luxury to just talk about it, and carry on with our lives. Or we could do something about it.

Don't change the channel.

Some sites to be helpful:
http://www.ifrc.org
http://www.oxfam.co.uk
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk
http://www.msf.org
http://www.wfp.org
http://www.unicef.org
http://www.islamic-relief.com
http://www.christianaid.org.uk
http://www.cnn.com
http://www.time.com

Other related sites (photos,videos, more links)
http://jlgolson.blogspot.com
http://wizbangblog.com/
http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/
http://www.command-post.org/
http://www.nytimes.com

Please feel free to suggest ways we can help, I understand sometimes it's not that people don't want to help, we just don't know how.

I only recently found out that Sting was having a show here in Malaysia, part of his Sacred Love tour. Now not many people know this, but i've always liked his brand of music. He's one guy that's managed to pull of various styles from reggae to jazz to ballads to new age songs and not sound like crap.


Some of my all time favourite songs are from him; Fields of Gold, When we dance, Fragile, King of pain, Englishman in New York - timeless songs.

But here comes the painful part; tickets are priced at RM128, RM228, RM348 and RM468.

(altogether now) "ouch!"

So am I going? I don't know yet la. I WOULD be staying nearby. Is that a reason to go?
i don't know !!! (now my mind's playing games reasoning myself to go/not go)

Perhaps I should start a "Send Jason to the Sting concert and he will be forever grateful fund."

Booking tickets info at www.ticketcharge.com.my

Star writeup here.

aand

Sting's official site

An Evening With STING
Tuesday 1/2/05
8:00PM
Putra Stadium,
Bukit Jalil

In other news:
I'm moving out of my room in January. Does anyone need a place in SS15 area? Not too bad place, I've stayed there for a year and a half now. Walking distance to colleges in the area, Subang Parade, KTM Subang Jaya, and lots and lots of makan places. Contact me for more info.

Recent tsunami tragedy got me thinking about this song.

"The News" - Jack Johnson

A billion people died on the news tonight
But not so many cried at the terrible sight
Well mama said
It's just make believe
You can't believe everything you see
So baby close your eyes to the lullabies
On the news tonight

Who's the one to decide that it would be alright ?
To put the music behind the news tonight
Well mama said
You can't believe everything you hear
The diagetic world is so unclear
So baby close your ears
On the news tonight
On the news tonight

The unobtrusive tones on the news tonight
And mama said

Why don't the newscasters cry when
they read about people who die?
At least they could be decent enough to put
just a tear in their eyes
Mama said It's just make believe
You cant believe everything you see
So baby close your eyes to the lullabies
On the news tonight

I was on the way to penang when it happened. like most people, I was oblivious to disaster that had claimed so many lives.

I was in Gurney Plaza having lunch with Angie and Amanda when Fiona told me over the phone an earthquake had happened earlier in the morning.

but life went on as usual. i didn't feel it. most of us still don't. what we can't see, can't feel, can't touch us right?

late in the evening i was with some friends in gurney drive, we saw the mud on the road. they said cars were moved. and by then i heard 27 lives were claimed.


it was only later in the evening i saw the news ... well, you know the rest.

i've heard it been said that death puts life in perspective.

don't change the channel.
instead, change your perspective.


The figures are staggering.

Indonesia
Dead: 25,000
Injured: Unknown
Missing: 30,000+

Sri Lanka
Dead: 13,000
Injured: 3,000
Missing: Unknown

India
Dead: 7,110
Injured: Unknown
Missing: 30,000+

Thailand
Dead: 1,000+
Injured: 7,346
Missing: 1,200

Somalia
Dead: 100+
Injured: Unknown
Missing: Unknown

Myanmar
Dead: 56+
Injured: Unknown
Missing: Unknown

Malaysia
Dead: 59
Injured: 200+
Missing: 29

Maldives
Dead: 52
Injured: Unknown
Missing: 68

Bangladesh
Dead: 2
Injured: Unknown
Missing: Unknown

Kenya
Dead: 2
Injured: Unknown
Missing: Unknown

Total
Dead: 46,000+
Injured: 10,546+
Missing: 60,000+

As of 11:41 a.m, Malaysian Standard time, 28/12/2004
Source Wikipedia


Site of the day
Monitor the world.

What's in a name?
Ten years ago, when you named a new child, you just needed to make sure the moniker was easy to spell and didn't rhyme with "smelly" or any other schoolyard taunt. But now, you've got to consider the search engine effect: is the name easily located via a Google search, or will your kid be confused with a multitude of John Smiths?

The solution? A unique name for which the only possible search results would be related to your child - Google's Modern advice for parents-to-be

The 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist
Based on billions of searches conducted by Google users around the world, the 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and trends. We hope you enjoy this aggregate look at what people wanted to know more about this year.

brought to my attention by : knightwalk